Red Velvet Cupcakes

 How can you resist a pretty ruby red cake?  You just can’t. Velvety smooth cake topped with a tangy sweet cream cheese frosting…heaven.  My niece, Natasha has a sweet tooth and a matching empty wallet because of  being a foodie. She keeps on buying any sweet treat that catches her eye but would often rant about how she just wasted her money on an  overpriced yet disappointing baked item. 

Now enters the auntie (yours truly) to appease her niece’s taste buds.…and wallet.  I wanted to surprise her with these cupcakes, yet wanted to avoid the sometimes “F” rating she would give me. Yes, I’ve had many failures in my baking journey..heehee. I wanted a winner this time—literally. I remember watching a Throwdown with Bobby Flay episode about red velvet cupcakes. Terri Wahl’s recipe beat Bobby Flay’s. Hmmmn…..definitely sounded like the recipe I was searching for.

Being  both a foodie and health nut , I was hesitant to use  big amounts of red food coloring which was almost equivalent to one  small bottle. What the heck—if  a pretty cake is what I want to achieve,  then  a bottle of red food color it shall be. Note to self: a little extra food coloring in my system (or my niece’s) won’t kill me.  the next  time I baked this, I made sure to cut the red coloring in half.  I probably made the second batch on a night with a  full moon because sometimes, the health nut in me wins ( hah!) :) With half the  amount of  red color, the cupcakes turned out to be  less vibrant  but equally delicious.  If you are making this for the first time, I suggest going all out with the red food color –just to see and experience the love color in all its glory. 

With all my fuss about the red food color, I really believe that the flavor of these red velvet cupcakes depends on the frosting. The cake itself is all about texture and color—the frosting, all about flavor.  You would notice that there is only a cup of powdered sugar on the frosting recipe.  This minimum amount of sugar together with the butter and cream cheese produces  the subtly tangy sweet flavor  that marries well with the velvety smoothness of the cake.  

Red Velvet Cupcakes 

(adapted from Terri Wahl’s recipe) 

Yield: 14 cupcakes

Ingredients:

1 ¾ cup all purpose flour minus a teaspoon (217 grams)

(Weigh if you have a measuring scale)

½ teaspoon plus 1/8 teaspoon Salt

½ teaspoon plus 1/8 teaspoon Baking Soda

1 teaspoon unsweetened cocoa powder

¾ cup Palm or Vegetable Oil

1 cup minus 1 Tablespoon Granulated White Sugar (182 grams)

*1/2 cup plus 2 Tablespoons Buttermilk

1 large Egg plus 2 Tablespoons beaten Egg

1 Tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon Red Food Coloring

½ teaspoon plus 1/8 teaspoon Vinegar

½ teaspoon plus 1/8 teaspoon Vanilla

1 Tablespoon Water

*Make Buttermilk:

Mix ½ cup Fresh Milk plus 2 Tablespoons milk with 2 teaspoons of  White Vinegar.

Set aside for 5 minutes for the milk to curdle.

Directions:

1. Preheat oven at 350 F.

2. Sift together the flour, salt, baking soda, and cocoa powder in a bowl. Set aside.

3.  Beat oil, sugar, and buttermilk with an electric mixer until well combined.

    (If you don’t have a mixer, just beat vigorously using a wooden spoon.)

4.  Add in eggs, food color, vinegar, vanilla, and water. Mix well.

5. Remove bowl from mixer. Add dry ingredients a little at a time, and mix gently by

    hand. Use a wooden spoon or a large rubber spatula to mix ingredients. Do not

    over mix. Over mixing will produce a tough and rubbery cupcake.

6.  Using an ice cream scooper, pour the batter into 14 lined cupcake or muffin tins.

7.  Bake for 15-17 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

8.  Remove from pan, and let cool on wire rack. 

     Cool completely before frosting.

Not So Sweet Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients:

170 grams Cream Cheese, room temperature

110 grams Butter, room temperature

100 grams Powdered Sugar, sifted

¾ teaspoon Vanilla

Directions:

1. Mix  butter and cream cheese together in a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment until

    smooth.  Again, they have to be at room temperature for easy mixing!

     (If you don’t have a mixer, use a wooden spoon and mix by hand.)

2. Gradually add powdered sugar to the mixture. Scrape down the bowl as needed.

3. Add in the vanilla.  Mix well.